Few designers have mastered the art of understated elegance. For Carolina Herrera it’s become a lifestyle. Carolina made it clear that pre-fall was a continuation of spring, which was jam packed with prints, color, and embellishment.

After a romping spring 2012 collection replete with bustling couture skirts and grungy lace t-shirts and crop tops, Oscar de la Renta took it back to basics reminding us all that he’s the American master of both high-drama and understated elegance.

This latest from Calvin Klein Collection saw Francisco Costa at his most paired down. While many designers felt around minimalism for Fall 2011, opting for saturated brights and piñatas of prints for spring and summer, Costa took nudes, metallics and black and made dresses, skirts, coats with a supremely subtle hand, constructing pieces that were far from being as simple and stripped down as they might first appear.

What the US Trademark office is saying is that it really doesn’t care about protecting the ideas or billions of dollars in sales generated by the fashion industry, yet if you use the phrase “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” without permission, you could be in serious legal trouble.

Flappers. Cowgirls. Industrial factory workers. They all came down Marc Jacobs’ stunningly constructed Edison bulb lit saloon runway at the Lexington Armory. If Jacobs has a knack for one thing in this industry, it’s showmanship. He’s one of the few designers who truly knows how to put on a show and his vision is always holistically considered. With Philip Glass’ 70s opera ‘Einstein on the Beach’ serving as runway music – it was hard to get the show’s pace, and the tune, out of your head once the gold lame curtain closed.

Thakoon Panichgul went for a very tongue-in-cheek mash-up for spring. After serving up Versailles by way of a Kenyan tribal plaid for Fall ’11, Thakoon delivered a skewed version of ‘Cowboys and Indians’.

Driven by lights in the big city, and a “fast woman”, hair was wet and stringy with the ultimate in sophistication. Prepping hair with Redken’s Full Frame 07 All-Over Volumizing Mousse, Guido Palau coated locks from roots to ends before creating a messy center part and rough-drying.

Sportswear is already proving to be a predominant trend in New York this season, so should it be any wonder that it be Alexander Wang to shell out the definitive collection in the matter? This season, he took athleticism and took it from an abstraction and created a clear vision.

Joseph Altuzarra’s show moved fast. Kinetics is what seemed to be most at play. Working with a tropic Hawaiian print on white and black leather, it was a techno-fabric urban jungle explosion, but a calculated one.

Ford Model’s Kate King, Simone Cavalho, Karmen Pedaru, and Hanne Gaby are seen backstage at the Pier 94 in Manhattan for Alexander Wang S/S 2012. Lara Mullen, Cora, and Julia Nobis also featured in this show.

Richard Chai Love Spring 2012 Collection was one to talk about… For the amazing in your face, yet sedated, beauty. Slamming color in your face, James Kaliardos for MAC Cosmetics, created a “Japanese Harajuku girl meets Venice Beach girl” look to balance the “explosion of color and texture” of the collection. And let me tell you, it worked.

With all the amazing colors and shapes walking down BCBG’s runway they needed to go with a stunning, yet understated look. Maybelline artist Charlotte Willer gave the models a stunning fresh, clean look.

Jason Wu is a cool kid trapped in a would-be couturier’s body – at least that’s what his latest collection seemed to signal. He’s also a ravenous aesthete. He is an artist who is inspired by other artists and is not afraid to acknowledge it.

Headquartered at Lincoln Center, home of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, the M-Class Fashion Ranger SUV is patrolling Manhattan and carrying out fashion expeditions such as a search for best gazelle like legs, the wildest shoes, Alpha editor sightings, an animal print rescue, and a hunt for the five fiercest handbags.

Fashion’s Night Out, the fashion industry’s biggest celebration of its kind, is back for a third year proving that three is a charm! On Thursday, September 8, shoppers who don’t find themselves near a Macy’s Fashion’s Night Out location at 6:00pm EST won’t have to miss out on the festivities, as for the first time ever, a special two-hour web event will coming to you live from Macy’s Herald Square, New York.